


Cinnamon

by InBetweens



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 03:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13068063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InBetweens/pseuds/InBetweens
Summary: The day starts out normally; Kara has stopped by to make her try one of her sugary concoctions in an effort to expand her palate, but being a Luthor the day ends far more drastically than it started.





	Cinnamon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [awkwardacity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardacity/gifts).



> This is one of the Secret Santa gifts I wrote this year. This one is for the lovely awkwardacity. I hope that you enjoy this story! Happy Holidays. 
> 
> Shout out to shipitlikeasteamboat for their help editing this piece. Take it easy on me. It's my second Supercorp. ;-) I hope I did them justice.

**Part 1 of 1**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Hey Jess, is Lena free?” Kara asked as she settled Jess’ favorite iced caramel latte on the desk with a broad smile.

Jess wondered what drink it was Kara was making Lena try today. The CEO had made a comment about Kara trying to broaden her horizons when it came to the pleasures of ‘sugary goodness’, because apparently drinking black coffee with no sugar was a sin of some kind to the always chipper reporter. Jess looked at the latte, her favorite, and then looked at the reporter who had another two drinks in her holder, and shook her head at the absurdity of it all.

“She’s in a meeting for another fifteen minutes. You can wait if you’re not in a rush.”

“Sure, will do.” Kara took a seat and kept to herself, but watched out of the corner of her eye, waiting. A smile bloomed the second Jess picked up the latte and took a blissful sip.

Satisfied, Kara hid her eyes and smile and focused on her phone and the email from Snapper.

Fifteen minutes ended up being seventeen before the brunette appeared around the corner, her steps sure and face blank of emotion. The second her eyes landed on Kara waiting, a smile lit up across her face and her gait changed. Her steps came a few seconds faster, as if she couldn’t wait to get to her new destination.

“Kara, what a surprise.” Lena loved when Kara dropped by out of the blue. “Is everything alright?” She asked, hoping this was just the social visit and not because Kara needed to help her save face thanks to something her mother had done.

All headlines these days had to do with her mother. Lillian had escaped federal custody and hadn’t been seen or heard from in almost three weeks. It was frightening, and security was on high alert, but until Lillian decided to come out of hiding there wasn’t much else Lena or National City could do but wait. If Lillian didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t be.

The media had practically stormed L-Corp when Lillian escaped, the Daily Planet made a spectacle of her, as if she was somehow behind the escape. Lena had been trying, truly trying, to keep L-Corp’s image free and clear of the horrors her mother and brother enacted. But it wasn’t enough for most of the world.

“Hi.” Kara smiled brightly and stood from her seat, pocketing her phone as Lena drew closer. With that smile Lena knew that this had to be a social visit. Kara was terrible at hiding her emotions when it came to something to do with her mother.

“Everything’s fine. Well, nothing new has come up. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were holding up.” Kara admitted, ducking her head and hiding her eyes for a moment before she quickly turned and picked up her surprise for Lena. “I brought you a new drink to try. This time I think you’re really going to like it.”

Lena couldn’t help but chuckle as she led the way into her office, dropping two files off for Jess as she passed. “Oh, is that so? You always seem to think I’m going to like them.”

“Well, I hope you like them. But this time, I know you’re going to enjoy it.”

Lena smiled indulgently as she took the offered beverage.

Sometimes it was hard for Lena to hear Kara’s voice and listen to her laugh and not think about how precious Kara was.

Sometimes, well sometimes it was hard for Lena to see Kara smile at her with shinning sapphire eyes and breathe at the same time because of how in love she was with Kara Danvers.

Lena Luthor was not the nicest person. Nor was she the noblest, but since coming to National City she was trying to be better. Better than her brother and now better than her mother. It was always about being better than she was, because she was never enough. She was never enough for Lionel, or Lillian, or even Lex. She wasn’t enough for any of her lovers, they always wanted more. More from her than she was willing to give or just more gifts and affection and love. The world wanted more from her. Wanted her to prove herself as either another rotten apple on the Luthor tree, or to surpass all of her family’s horrors and make something of herself.

Everyone always wanted more from her, but not Kara. Kara just wanted her. Plain, simple, boring her. Kara didn’t see the Luthor name as something Lena needed to shed or grow into. Kara didn’t ask her to be more than she was. Kara didn’t ask her to do better. Kara just asked her to be herself. How was Lena ever supposed to not fall in love with someone like that? Someone that finally saw her for who she was and could be but wasn’t forcing the issue, didn’t want her to change. Kara liked Lena as she was, and it made Lena feel special.

Perfect, wonderful, funny, sweet, kind, caring Kara Danvers just wanted Lena Luthor to be herself. Well, herself so long as she tried every sugary concoction all the coffee houses in National City could create until they found one Lena liked better than black coffee.

Lena didn’t count that though, it was her own fault really. She’d told Kara she hadn’t tried any of the new and improved drink selections coffee houses had to offer, and Kara just wanted her to experience the joys of sugar. And when someone like Kara Danvers smiled and watched eagerly as she took every single sip, giving her full attention? Well, it was worth sipping a few too sweet drinks to make that smile stay on Kara’s face just that much longer.  
  
“So how are Alex and Maggie?” Lena asked as she took a seat on the couch against the wall of her office. Kara followed suit and took her normal seat.

“They’re good; they got back from their honeymoon yesterday.” Kara sipped at her drink as she took off her shoes and put her feet up under her while sitting facing Lena. It was a tradition at this point for her to get comfortable whenever she was in Lena’s office on a social visit. They’d both taken naps on this couch. Kara only twice, while Lena had made this couch into her bed during one crisis or another.  
  
Lena followed suit and slipped her heels off as well and got comfortable. She had a half an hour before she needed to get back to work, and any time spent with Kara was well worth the hours she’d have to put in overtime.  
  
“Thank you, by the way, for being my date to their wedding. I really appreciate it.” As the maid of honor for Alex it had been important to Eliza that she bring someone with her, and since it would be too awkward to invite James or Winn as her date (they also already had their own invites) Kara had asked Lena to attend with her.

The ensuing questions from Eliza had been less than subtle, but at least no one had made a fuss about it. Except they all had. Multiple times. They really hadn’t let her live it down. But it had still been a great day, the ceremony going off without a hitch, and without the need for Supergirl.  
  
Lena has asked of course, why Supergirl wasn’t attending the wedding when it was clear that Alex worked so closely with her, but Kara had been able to play it off that not everyone could take the day off. Someone had to patrol the city and make sure everyone was safe while the best FBI agent and NCPD Detective got married.

Truthfully, it was getting harder and harder to keep her secret from Lena. Kara trusted Lena with her life but it wasn’t just about her life, it was about the lives of her family and friends as well. Lena had become one of the most important people in Kara’s life this last year, and keeping this secret from her was slowly weighing on her more and more. Soon it would weigh so much she wouldn’t be able to breathe past all the lies.  
  
They were so close to something, something that Kara often times didn’t want to imagine. But she knew it existed, she knew the way that Lena looked at her meant something altogether different than how friends looked at other friends. Lena looked at her like she hung the stars and the moon and decorated the sky with them just for her. Kara couldn’t say much, she was certain that the sun orbited around Earth because Lena was on it.  
  
“It was my pleasure. We had a blast didn’t we?” Lena’s nose scrunched up in the way it did when she was remembering something that made her truly happy and excited all at the same time.  
  
Kara’s eyes softened and her smile brightened at the display. Yes, they’d had a blast together. Of everyone there, Lena and Kara had danced the night away together and been the second cutest couple at that wedding.

Except they weren’t a couple. Not yet anyway.  
  
“Yes, we did. I still can’t believe you didn’t know how to do the Cotton Eyed Joe.” Kara snickered a little as she sipped at her drink, waiting and watching for Lena to take a sip of hers.  
  
“I still can’t believe you didn’t know how to do a Fox Trot.” Lena countered with ease, a devilish smile on her face as she inhaled the scent of her drink. She moaned softly at the smell, surprised at how good the aroma was.  
  
“Electric slide!”  
  
“Mamba.”  
  
“Cha Cha slide.”  
  
“Tango.”  
  
“Cupid Shuffle.”  
  
“Waltz.”  
  
“Hey, I knew how to do that one!” Kara complained with a pout.  
  
“Oh hush…” Lena laughed as she pushed her hand against Kara’s shoulder to make the woman cut out the pouting.  
  
The two laughed for a few moments before falling into a comfortable silence. When they’d both quieted down Lena took her first sip and was surprised at the flavor. It almost tasted like…well her normal coffee but with a distinct flavor to it. Something better than French Vanilla or Hazelnut. It wasn’t sweet but it was warm and…

“What is this?” Lena asked, needing to know as she took another sip, and another, enjoying the hot concoction.  
  
“It’s…”  
  
_**RING RING RING**_  
  
Lena sighed as she turned to her desk and saw her personal line was ringing, the sound of it echoing through the suddenly silent office.

“I’m sorry, hold that thought.” Lena put up her finger to indicate she needed one minute before she rushed over to her desk to pick up her phone.  
  
Kara snuggled back into the couch, her eyes tracking Lena as the younger woman made her way across the office, practically tripping over her discarded heels. Kara couldn’t help but smile fondly at the brunette as she righted herself and pretended like the almost spill hadn’t happened. It was always an honor and pleasure to see Lena in her element. It wasn’t often that Kara saw Lena through the eyes of her employees or competitors, but when she did glimpse the hard exterior of a determined business woman, it left her feeling slightly off kilter. Having been exposed to Cat Grant for years, Lena Luthor as a CEO would be a cake walk, but that wasn’t to say they didn’t have their stark differences and challenges. They were both successful women and building an empire that would help the betterment of humanity.  
  
“Good afternoon, Lena Luthor…” Lena pronounced on the phone, and try as she might Kara couldn’t help but eavesdrop. They were too close and the office otherwise too quiet for her not to hear the voice on the other end as it spoke up.

“You don’t deserve that name.”  
  
Lena’s eyes widened, and her heart raced as she recognized the voice immediately, “ _Lillian…_ ” Lena growled, her eyes quickly looking to Kara and then moving away.  
  
Lena forced a smile and held up her finger to Kara before she turned around, so she was facing the floor to ceiling windows staring out at the cityscape, her shoulders hunching a bit as if by doing so she could keep this conversation private.  
  
Kara, in the meantime had sat up and was leaning forward at the growl issued by Lena and the sound of Lillian Luthor’s voice on the other end of the phone. Her hands itched for her to do something, but she was forced to remain as an observer rather than a participant.  
  
“Now, now, dear. I am still your mother.”  
  
“Like hell you are. You’ve tried to kill me!” Lena whisper yelled, mindful that Kara was behind her.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You were never in any true danger.”  
  
“You’ve used me for your own gains, I’m only a means to an end for you.”

“Well, sometimes I suppose you are right.” Lena could just imagine the wicked smirk on the woman’s face.  
  
“What do you want this time?”  
  
“To say goodbye.” Lillian announced as if she were pained by the idea of it.

“Goodbye?” Lena questioned, her back stiff and her hand tight around the phone.  
  
“Mmm…I’ve grown tired of our games. I believe it is best for the suffering to end swiftly. Don’t you? It’s more humane that way.”  
  
Kara stood from her seat slowly, her ears perked, and body tense the longer the conversation on the phone progressed. Something wasn’t right. She could feel it. The hairs on the back of her neck were erect as her senses tried to tell her something.  
  
“Humane? When have you ever been humane?” Lena was just getting more and more confused by the moment. Nothing was ever so straight forward with her mother. Never.  
  
“Now is not the time to make me angry, Lena.” Lillian warned, her voice growing deeper by the second.  
  
“When is the right time to make you angry then? When you’re about to kill thousands of innocent people again?”  
  
“People!? You think these monsters are people?”  
  
“Of course they’re people! They’re not the monsters in this world Lillian. You are!”  
  
Lena could hear the heavy breathing and the tell tail signs that Lillian was trying to remain calm even though she was enraged.  
  
“As I said, I am calling to say goodbye. But perhaps it won’t be so quick as I’d planned. Goodbye, Lena.”  
  
There was hardly any time between the moment the glass started to shatter and the moment Kara ran and stood in front of Lena. It was really just a blink of an eye it happened so fast. The sound had just reached Kara’s ear when her already tense body sprang into action and she ran as fast as she could and braced herself for whatever was going to come through the broken window.

Lena didn’t know what happened. The first thing she’d recognized was the dial tone of someone hanging up on her before the sudden sound of glass breaking. The next thing she knew Kara was in front of her, tall and proud as if she’d always been there. Which was impossible because Lena knew for a fact that Kara had been behind her by the couch just a moment ago. She’d hardly had enough time to blink before the other girl was in front of her.

The third thing she realized, was that the glass was shattering because someone was shooting through it. They shouldn’t be able to shoot through it as it was bullet proof, but leave it to her mother to find ammunition that would cut through it like tissue paper.  
  
The final thing she realized, almost too late, was Kara jerking backwards from left to right to left again as she stumbled backwards and bumped into Lena roughly. Lena was surprised at how much Kara weighted as she tried to keep them both standing by bracing her arms backwards against her desk. But she hardly had time to scream when Kara’s right shoulder jerked to the side and there was an excruciating pain in her own right shoulder.  
  
Lena sank to the floor, Kara laying on top of her. There was something warm seeping into her clothes as Kara’s weight pressed down on her. Her fight or flight finally kicked in and she pulled Kara with her right arm, which was practically useless as every time she tried to move it there was a shooting pain that coursed down her spine. Nonetheless her adrenaline helped her pull and yank at Kara so she was dragging the woman behind the desk and away from the openness of the broken glass and the people shooting at them.

Shooting at them…Kara. Kara was shot!

Once hidden behind the desk Lena screamed. “JESS…CALL AN AMBULANCE!”  
  
There was blood. Warm, thick, heavy blood seeping through Kara’s clothes and into Lena’s; spilling and pooling upon the floor where they were both hidden. Kara was couching coughing? and staring up at her, her mouth moving but no sound coming out of it. Lena made out her name being silently said as Kara cringed, her eyes glazing over in pain.

Jess arrived at the door in an instant a phone pressed against her ear. “No don’t!” Lena warned as her assistant made to step into the room, eyes wide as she stared at the broken bullet proof glass and the two women hiding behind Lena’s desk. There were soft Pings and Thuds echoing against the desk, the shooting hadn’t stopped yet.

Lena kept her head ducked down low and focused, pulling herself together. She needed to put pressure on the wounds; she needed to stop this bleeding.

“Kara, Kara you stay with me. You stay…with…me…” Lena enunciated as she lifted Kara’s shirt and went to find the wounds, her fingers just barely hovering above where Kara’s skin should be when the bullets finally pierced through her desk and started ratcheting off the floor as she was forced to duck. She cursed and apologized softly to Kara as she lay her body over Kara’s to protect her friend from any further harm.  
  
“Miss Luthor!” Lena looked up, just enough by tilting her head to see her head of security standing at the door frame with his radio and gun drawn. “Do you know where it’s coming from?”  
  
“No! I need to get her out of here, Tony. She’s bleeding out!” Lena felt her heart racing against her chest and felt bile rise at the announcement. If Kara didn’t get help soon she’d bleed to death, right in front of Lena and that was unacceptable.  
  
“I need teams on the rooftops in a three block radius now!” Tony practically whispered loudly into his radio. He was wearing his bullet proof vest, but if these bullets had gotten through the bullet proof glass they had to be piercing rounds that could cut through a vest just as easily as they’d broken through the glass window.  
  
Lena heard her heartbeat echo loudly in her ears. She felt the blood that had seeped through her clothes begin to stick and crust against her skin. Lena brushed her bloody hand through Kara’s hair, whispering to her reassurances even as she watched her friend being to tremble with the loss of blood.

“You’re going to be okay…you’re going to be fine. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise…” Lena leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kara’s forehead to seal her promise. She tried not to notice how cool and damp Kara’s skin was becoming.

“Tony…I need to get her out of here…” Lena looked to the man and saw him waving several guards towards him. They were carrying what appeared to be riot shields.  
  
“We move together. Step by step. Two guys behind us. Ready...on my count. One…two…three…”  
  
The men moved at a quick three step pace, their shields up and heads down as they made their way across Lena’s office. The shields took several shots to it but they were holding up against the piercing rounds.  
  
“Alright, let’s move people. Miss Luthor on two, stand and come behind us.”  
  
“No, not without Kara!”  
  
“We need to get you out of the way before we can get to her.” Tony explained. “Please, we don’t have time to argue. On two. One….two!”  
  
Lena begrudgingly jumped up and behind the barrier that they had created with the shields, never even wondering why they’d need these. She’d seen them used by her security team a time or two before when there had been riots outside of the building and employees needed to get in and out for their work day.  
  
Lena felt someone wrap their arm around her and keep her steady as the two people who’d been hiding behind the four men with the riot gear slid across the flood and picked Kara up quickly and raced back behind the shields. Lena was pulled along with them as the two men carried Kara out of the office and away from the open windows. The men with shields making a quick path to the emergency elevator that would go directly to the first floor.  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Lena doesn’t even remember the ambulance ride to the hospital. She knew she was in one. She watched as paramedics did their best to put pressure down on the wounds, four. Kara was shot four times protecting her. Lena doesn’t know how or why or what this all meant but she just knew that Kara had saved her life. She’d taken four bullets for her.

When they arrived at the hospital Lena didn’t let anyone look at her, even though a nurse followed her around complaining about her shoulder. Lena just waved her off. She needed to stay with Kara. Kara who was sweet and kind and had been shot. Four times. For her.

“You need to leave.”  
  
“I’m not going anywhere!” Lena growled at the nurse, glaring at her with her fiercest scowl. They would have to physically remove her if they wanted her to leave.  
  
“Fine, but stay out of the way.” The nurse didn’t have time to argue or fight with her. She just pushed Lena to the corner of the emergency trauma room and got what the doctor was asking for.  
  
“We need to find these bleeders. Now people, hand me those scissors.” The surgeon ordered as he held out his hand awaiting the scissors. He cut off Kara’s shirt but found there was another material beneath it also covered in blood.

Lena watched as the doctor pulled apart Kara’s shirt and stopped moving. The nurses standing around Kara’s table all stopped moving and stared. The heart monitor suddenly the only sound in the previously chaotic room.  
  
“What…what is it!? Why have you stopped?” Lena asked stepping away from where she’d been placed to get a better look at what had everyone so still.  
  
Then she saw it. Clear as day even covered in blood. The Super Sigil, the super “S” crest proud and true staring back at all of them as red blood continued to seep onto the stark blue costume.  
  
Lena felt her heart rattle in her chest.

Kara was Supergirl.  
Supergirl was Kara.  
Kara was Supergirl.  
Kara was shot.  
Supergirl was shot.  
For her.  
By her mother.  
  
“What are you waiting for!?” Lena yelled, the shock finally breaking as everyone in the room accepted the fact that they were not just trying to save the life of a mousy reporter that was friends with Lena Luthor but they were trying to save Supergirl, who’d put herself in harm’s way to save Lena Luthor.  
  
Lena was pushed back into her little corner, and for a moment she was grateful for it. Grateful because the woman on the table, the woman she’d come to love more than life itself wasn’t merely a the woman who made her life better dying on the table. No, she was the alien super heroine the whole world depended on.  
  
“V-Fib…” The doctor called out just before Kara’s heartbeat flat lined.  
  
Lena felt like she was going to faint. The lines on the heart monitor fizzles to a straight horizontal axis and the doctors started panicking and calling for a defibulator to be charged as they started CPR.

Lena bent over, feeling as if she were going to be sick. Kara was Supergirl. Supergirl was Kara. And Kara was dying.  
  
“What…what’s going on here?” Lena barely lifted her head up from her knees to see Alex Danvers flocked by her wife, Maggie Sawyer, and Hank Henshaw, the man who’d walked her down the aisle.

Alex’s eyes widened as she saw the Supersuit cut away and her sister’s chest and abdomen visible and covered in blood. Her eyes moved from the bloody sight to the monitors and the actions of the doctors and it seemed Alex wasn’t as capable of handling the shock of it all as Lena, because the only reason she was still standing was because Hank and Maggie caught her.  
  
“What happened!?”  
  
“She was shot…” Lena spoke up from her little corner, where she was suddenly no longer safe from the world as Alex, Hank, and Maggie all turned towards her.  
  
“Luthor…” Alex’s eyes narrowed in on her and she straightened up to her full height and took three large, menacing steps towards her. Lena didn’t even try and stand up straight, she was still having trouble breathing without vomiting, never mind keeping herself conscious enough to be glared at and/or threatened.  
  
Right as Alex made it to Lena, the doctors were able to get Kara’s heartbeat back and they were calming down enough to try and assess the situation and get scans done as quickly as possible to find where the bullets had landed.  
  
Instead of being hit or confronted or even blamed, Lena found herself wrapped up in Alex’s embrace. Alex pulled back and her hand touched Lena’s shoulder, which finally seemed to set off alarm bells in Lena’s brain as she became consciously aware of just how much pain she was in.

So much pain in fact that she lost her footing and fell to the ground with a pitiful cry.  
  
“You’ve been shot.”  
  
“Can I get some help over here?” Maggie called, waving in a nurse from outside the room. The ones in the room had enough to deal with as they fought to get Kara’s heart started again.  
  
A nurse examined the wound and frowned. “The bullet. It’s still inside you. It’s not a through and through.”  
  
A light bulb went off for Alex, “The bullets, are they still inside her?” Alex asked one of the nurses who was administering a drug to Kara’s system. Into an IV that shouldn’t be able to pierce her skin but was.  
  
“Hey!” Alex grabbed the nurse by the shoulders to stop her. “Are the bullets still in Supergirl?”  
  
“Yes, all but one.”  
  
“You’ve got to get the bullets out!” Alex turned to the doctor, pulling out her fake FBI badge to show him. “She’s my partner; you’ve got to get the bullets out! It’ll help her heal.”  
  
“One of the bullets is by the spine, I need to…”  
  
“Get the others out as soon as possible. It’ll make getting the last one easier. They’re poisonous to her. That’s why she’s not healing and they were able to pierce her skin to begin with. You need to deal with the poison to help her at least start to regenerate.”  
  
The doctor nodded, looking to his colleagues as he started issuing orders.  
  
The last thing Lena saw before she finally passed out was Alex and Hank issuing orders to the doctors and warning them that their doctors and people were going to be here to assist momentarily.  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

The first thing that Lena realized when she regained consciousness was that she was lying down. The second thing she realized was that it was dark in her room, because even when she opened her eyes it was all shadowed. She tried to sit up but found the pain in her shoulder kept her as still as possible. She couldn’t help the gasp of pain that escaped as she turned to inspect her shoulder. Her arm was bandaged and being kept against her body in a sling of some sort.

Lena felt her heart begin to race as she realized how much time must have passed.

Kara…she needed to find Kara.

Lena sat up, groaning in pain, but pushing through it as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and went to stand. Her head swam with dizziness as she tried to balance herself with her one good arm which was snagging on an IV.

The noise of the IV scrapping and her groans woke Winn, who’d been snoozing on the fold out chair in the corner of the room waiting for her to recover.

“Hey…hey…easy.” Winn jumped up and stumbled across the room in his rush to get Lena back on the bed.

Through Kara the two geniuses had become fast friends. They hung out as a group of three often but Winn had even started grabbing coffees with Lena without Kara’s presence. He had a major crush on Lena’s brain, the way said woman’s brain worked, and how she solved problems . But his crush on her intelligence didn’t transfer to a crush on her as a person. No, he just really liked her as a friend and was happy he could talk to someone about quantum mechanics that’d listen, understand, and even offer suggestions.

“Winn?” Lena asked, surprised to see him.

“Yeah, hey look, just sit back on the bed. Okay? What can I get you? I think you’re allowed to have ice chips. Ice chips seems to be the go to around hospitals you know. I don’t understand why though. Is it so much different to just let someone drink some plain old fashioned liquid water instead of having to chew the--”  
  
“Winn!”  
  
Winn snapped his mouth closed and looked apologetic. “Sorry.”  
  
“Where’s Kara?” Lena asked once she knew she had his attention. “Is she alright? What happened to her. The last thing I remember they were prepping her for surgery, her heart had just stopped and…”  
  
“Shh….shh…hey hey, Kara’s okay. She’s healing. She made it through the surgery and is doing fine.” Winn promised, wanting to rub Lena’s arm but not feeling comfortable enough to do it.  
  
Lena nodded, accepting his words but not willing to truly physically accept that Kara was okay until she saw for herself. “Good, I need to see her.” Lena continued with her endeavor to stand from her bed without falling back into the bed.

Winn stepped closer, ready to catch Lena if it looked like she was going to fall. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be walking around just yet.” Winn hedged his bets, knowing for sure that Lena was supposed to be resting. She too had to have surgery to repair the damage done by the kryptonite bullet.  
  
“Then get me a wheelchair and let’s go!” Lena used her office voice, something she rarely used around Kara or Winn (her friends—how strange that she actually had friends). The sound of it seemed to work immediately because Winn straightened up and rushed out of the room, hopefully in order to get Lena a wheelchair.  
  
Lena was proud of Winn when he returned to her room with the requested wheelchair. She hated to admit it, but she needed it. Her legs weren’t working the way they ought to, probably because of the drugs still in her system.

Winn slowly wheeled her through the hospital, her IV still attached since he’d gotten a wheelchair with an IV pole attached to it. He’d insisted. She had wanted to take it out, but he put his foot down that she keep the IV if they were going anywhere. And not being in any position to truly argue with him, she’d accepted his condition, just glad that he was helping her get to Kara.

They arrived on the fourth floor to a rather secluded wing of the hospital. There were armed guards, the government agents that Supergirl often worked with, standing guard at each central point of the wing. Winn was able to walk past them all. No one gave him a hard time or stopped them to turn them around.

Lena wondered briefly if she would have been able to get passed these guards without him if she’d hobbled her way here. The thought quickly left her mind when they arrived at a room. Maggie was just stepping out the door with an empty styrofoam cup when they came to a stop outside the room.

Maggie’s eyes widened as she saw Winn and Lena in front of her. “What are you doing out of bed. You just had surgery!”  
  
“Surgery?” Lena asked, she hadn’t even bothered to ask Winn about what happened to her and why she had been in her own hospital bed. She’d just assumed they’d taken the bullet out and she’d been knocked out from the drugs. She hadn’t realized they’d needed to do surgery on her arm. No wonder it was pulsing with pain.

Maggie rolled her eyes, “Yes, Princess. Surgery. They needed to cut you open and repair the muscles in your shoulder thanks to the damage the bullet caused. You shouldn’t be out of bed.”  
  
“I need to see Kara.”  
  
“No, you need to go back to bed. You’ve been through a lot in the last twenty four hours.” Maggie looked at Winn with a hard glare, “I can’t believe you brought her here.”  
  
Winn shrugged, “She made me do it. She’s scary when she gets all ‘I’m Lena Luthor, CEO of Luthor Corp and a bizzilionaire who will eat you for breakfast if you don’t do as I say.” Maggie looked at him disbelievingly, “She is!”  
  
“Be that as it may, you…” Maggie looked pointedly at Lena, “…need to go back to your room.”  
Maggie went to take control of the wheelchair away from Winn and Lena, realizing she was going to be helpless to stop Maggie from letting her see Kara when she had come so close, panicked. She reached down and put the brakes on the wheelchair, making it impossible for Maggie to move the chair and take her away. She was so close. Kara was right through those doors.  
  
“Please, please, Detective Sawyer, I need to see her!” Lena begged, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. “The last…” Lena’s breath caught in her throat, “The last thing I remember is her heart stopping and her dying in front of me. Please…let me see that she’s fine. I just need to see it with my own eyes. Then you can bring me back to my room and I won’t complain.” Lena’s tears fell as she stared beseechingly up at the other woman. Horrified that she was allowing herself to cry in front of anyone, let along this strong woman. “Please….please, Maggie.” She whispered, desperate to see with her own eyes that Kara was okay.  
  
Maggie’s face softened as she saw the tears fall from Lena’s eyes. Maggie knew Alex wasn’t going to like this, but Maggie couldn’t send Lena away. Not when she knew the desperation she was feeling. She’d felt it when Alex had been kidnapped and they’d lost contact with her. It had been several harrowing hours before she was able to get the reassurance that Alex was okay. To deny that need to anyone else was cruel, and Maggie was many things but she wasn’t cruel.  
  
“Alright, fine. But you should be prepared. She’s hooked up to a lot of machines and she hasn’t woken up yet.” Maggie warned. “But the doctors say she’s going to make a full recovery. It’s just about time now. She needs the time to heal.” Maggie jerked her head to the door so Winn would go and open it.  
  
Once inside the room the first thing Lena realized was that there were sun lamps hanging over Kara’s bed. It made the room as bright as the zenith hour on a hot summers day. The second thing was that Alex was sitting in a chair beside Kara’s bed holding her hand. Then came the realization of all the machines that Maggie had mentioned.  
  
Alex lifted her head from the bed slowly, her eyes widening when she saw her wife pushing in Lena Luthor.  
  
“Maggie…what?” Maggie shook her head, silencing Alex’s questions. Alex stopped and looked at Lena and then her wife, and then turned to see how Lena was silently crying as she looked at Kara, her hand coming up to cover her mouth and keep in her sobs.  
  
It took a few moments but Lena pulled herself together and wiped away her tears with her good hand. Her eyes moving away from Kara for the first time to look back at Alex. “She’s…she’ll be okay, right? These lamps, they’ll help her heal faster?” Lena asked, a hopeful tinge coloring her voice. They needed to help her. Kara couldn’t be hurt. She needed to be sitting in her office, smiling at her as she watched her try another one of her concoctions. She shouldn’t be laying in a hospital bed under sun lamps recovering from being shot. Shot protecting her.

All of it. All the times Supergirl came to her rescue it had been Kara. Kara had been the one to save her life over and over and over again. Kara, who’d already been her knight in shining armor, was truly the super heroine who was constantly called upon to protect Lena and the city in general. The Girl of Steel…her best friend.  
  
And here she was appearing as human as anyone who’d been shot four times.  
  
“Yes, these lamps are helping her heal. It’s just taking a lot because there was a lot of internal damage. The bullets…they’re poisonous to her so we had to make sure they got all the pieces of them out of her. They appeared to. So now it’s just about waiting.” Alex explained, watching Lena nod as she took in the information, but barely look away from Kara.  
  
Alex couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Lena at all. The fact that Lena was allowed into this room grated on Alex, and yet she didn’t say anything to contradict Lena’s presence here. She couldn’t. Because that small voice in her head—the one that always sounded like Kara—told her Lena was supposed to be here. Kara would want Lena here with her. So, even though Alex wanted to issue threats and promises of horrible fates if Lena decided to follow in the footsteps of her family and try and kill Kara or use her secret identity against her….she didn’t. But it was hard. So hard in fact that she had to squeeze her nails into her own palm to keep from saying everything she wanted to.

Kara cared for Lena in a way that Alex was still trying to understand. Watching the two of them together at her wedding had just been a clarifying moment for her in regards to her sister’s feelings for the CEO. Whether Kara felt comfortable talking to her about it or not, Alex knew Lena was incredibly important to her. Alex wasn’t about to deny either of them a moment together after a traumatic experience. No matter what her sister senses were saying.  
  
“Can I?” Lena gestured with her good hand towards the other side of Kara’s bed.  
  
“Sure…here…” Alex took Maggie’s place behind the wheelchair and brought her over to Kara’s bedside.  
  
Lena immediately reached out and touched Kara’s hand, careful of her IV and Kara’s so they wouldn’t get tangled.  
  
Kara’s skin was warm. It always was she realized. Never once had Lena touched Kara and felt goosebumps rise with a chill of a cold hand or foot touching hers. Kara was always warm when they snuggled up on the couch together to watch a movie, or when they walked side by side down the street and their pinkies brushed.  
  
The only time Kara had been cold to the touch had been this afternoon when she’d been bleeding out in front of Lena’s very eyes.  
  
Lena whimpered at the thought and squeezed Kara’s hand a bit tighter, the image making her tears spring up once again.  
  
“I’m sorry. I usually don’t cry this much.” Lena couldn’t help but try and excuse herself. These tears were her weakness and weakness was never meant to be shown to anyone. Or so she’d been taught.  
  
“I don’t either.” Alex admitted as she took her seat on the other side of Kara’s bed. “It comes with the territory.”  
  
“Here…” Maggie handed Lena a tissue before she went back to standing behind Alex’s chair.  
  
“Thank you…” Lena used the tissue to pat away the tears.

The room fell into quiet, the only sound heard that of the machines helping keep Kara breathing and monitoring her heart rate.  
  
“You care about her.” Alex spoke up some time later, breaking the silence.  
  
Lena wanted to deny the clear implication in Alex’s tone, wanted to protect herself and Kara from the truth, but she was too tired to lie. “More than anyone could ever know,” She whispered, her eyes sliding back to stare at Kara’s face. beautiful, even with an oxygen mask on it and oily hair haloing it.  
  
Alex hummed her response as she nodded, having expected some kind of fight, but was pleasantly surprised she didn’t get one.  
  
“You know now…” Alex didn’t want to be the one that brought it into the room for them to discuss, but she was Kara’s big sister and she had to protect her.  
  
“I do.” Lena answered, uncertain where this was going, but having an idea. Alex, after all, was the archetype big sister.  
  
“Does that…change how you feel? In any way?”  
  
Lena blinked in surprise, having to think about it for a moment. Not having expected that question. “Yes…” Lena admitted, with a smile even while Alex tenses. “It makes me love her even more.” Lena admitted with a soft smile. She cringed internally at saying the L-word so casually, and saying it to Alex, Maggie and Winn before she said it to Kara.  
  
“You’re not upset, that she kept it from you?” Alex pressed, needing to know what Kara was going to be facing, especially now that she was so weak and vulnerable.  
  
“I am upset that she didn’t tell me herself. But I think me, being who I am, can understand why she didn’t tell me.” At least she tried to understand why Kara hadn’t told her. They’d been close and doing this special dance back and forth with each other for almost a year now. In that time she wondered what kept Kara from telling her the truth, when everyone here obviously knew. Did Kara not trust her? Was she afraid it would change their relationship or how Lena felt about her?  
  
“I would like to speak with her about it. But I’m not about to yell at her. She saved my life…again.” Lena shook her head, still trying to comprehend how often this amazing woman had saved her from physical and emotional danger in the last two years. “I just…there is so much we need to talk about. Her being…her being who she is, is probably the least of them.” Lena dropped her head for a moment, “I’d appreciate if you didn’t talk to her about everything I’m saying now. I would like to talk to her. In our own time….about…everything.”  
  
“Yeah, no problem.” Alex wouldn’t tell Kara. She wanted her sister to have the opportunity to talk to Lena herself.  
  
“It’s probably a good idea to get you back before they send out search parties.” Winn announced from where he’d been standing against the wall, just observing.

Lena frowned, but she’d been given what she’d asked for. She’d seen Kara. Saw that she was okay, breathing, not bleeding, alive, and healing. That was all she’d asked for and she’d gotten that and a little more time with her. She wouldn’t push her luck. At least not tonight.  
  
“Alright.” Lena squeezed Kara’s hand once more before she let it go and let Winn push her out of the room.

Tomorrow….tomorrow was a new day all together and she made no promises not to be more pushy then.  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Kara felt the warmth of the sun on her skin and she signed into the feeling. Turning towards the warm light to gain as much of its energy as possible. Without even opening her eyes she could feel herself lagging. The last thing she remembered was talking with Lena in her office and hearing the shattering of glass before she’d run in front of her and gotten hit with something small and sharp and so very painful. The pain had been unbearable. She’d never felt anything like that in her life. There had been emotional pain before but never physical pain the likes of which she’d suffered in that moment.  
  
The longer Kara thought about the last thing she remembered the more she started to remember. The threats from Lillian, the bullets, security saving her, dying. She remembered it all in a flash, and with that knowledge her eyes snapped open for the first time in days.

“She’s awake.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Oh my god…Kara!”  
  
Kara groaned, her eyes moving away from the bright light of the sunlamps. “Too bright…” She croaked, her throat dry.  
  
“Okay, hang on. We’ll turn them down a little, but we need to keep them on..” Alex explained as Eliza moved the sunlamps back making them less bright.  
  
“Here, take a sip of this water.” Alex directed as she guided a straw to Kara’s mouth.  
  
Kara took several short sips before she turned her head away, not being able to drink anymore. “Lena…?” Kara asked, looking at her sister for an answer on how Lena was doing. “….Lena okay?”  
  
“She’s fine. She’s okay. She just went with the nurse to get some paperwork done. They’re letting her leave today.” Which probably meant Alex and Eliza were going to have more company sitting at Kara’s bedside.  
  
Kara nodded, smiling softly as she relaxed into her bed at the knowledge that Lena was okay.  
  
“Do you remember everything that happened?” Alex asked as Eliza settled in back next to Kara.  
  
“Yes, Lillian, shooting.”  
  
“Right, they were kryptonite bullets. It’s why it’s taken so long for you to heal.”  
  
“How long?” Kara asked realizing more time had passed then she realized.  
  
“Four days.” Eliza answered, brushing some of Kara’s hair out from her face.

That was much longer than Kara expected.  
  
“It’s okay. You’re almost fully healed now. We were just waiting for you to wake up.”

“That’s right, sweetie. You’re fine now.” Eliza reassured, offering Kara and Alex a smile. She’d been having to keep Alex from bouncing off the walls with worry the last few days when the last of Kara’s wounds had healed but she hadn’t woken up.

“Lillian?” Kara asked, wondering if they’d caught the woman who’d attached Lena and very nearly killed her.  
  
“No sign of her yet. We’ll find her though. I promise. She won’t get away with this.” Alex promised vehemently as she stared into Kara’s eyes. The stress of the situation finally hitting her now that Kara was awake and talking, and going to be okay.  
  
“Tired…” Kara whispered, her eyes closing on their own accord. “…love you.”  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

  
The next two days were mostly the same. Kara would wake up for a few minutes at a time but then fall back so sleep for hours at a time. Each time Kara woke up she asked for Lena, but it always was that the CEO had either just left or not yet arrived. Both Kara and Lena were slowly getting tired of missing each other. But it made Kara feel better that Alex and Eliza were there every time she woke up.  
  
Being in a hospital was scary for her. Her powers weren’t under the best control while she was recovering and it was making things more interesting for the hospital staff. There were still guards along the hallways and the room Kara was in didn’t have any windows, so the sunlamps stayed. It made healing take a longer time, but it was the best they could do with how close Kara had come to dying.  
  
A prospect that had Kara anxious to see Lena. She knew that Lena was now aware of her secret, Alex had told her as much. It made her nervous that she kept missing the opportunity to talk to Lena when she woke up. She tried in vain to stay up longer but each time exhaustion would take hold.  
  
Today was the fifth day, and Kara had already been awake for two hours. Alex had been badgered by Kara to call Lena and ask her to swing by as soon as she could. After all the CEO had to go back to work and handle another shit storm created by her mother. The fact that Supergirl almost died protecting Lena had seemingly helped Lena’s image, and turned the public against Lillian as whole, rather than Lena in bits and pieces.  
  
When Lena arrived Kara felt the air in her lunch whoosh out of her fast enough for the room to grow incredibly cold for a second.  
  
Kara hadn’t realized that Lena had been hurt, but seeing the sling that Lena wore and the bandages around the area made Kara’s eyes tear up. She hadn’t protected Lena. She’d failed. She had let her get hurt.  
  
“Kara!” Lena exclaimed happily when she saw Kara’s eyes open and aware and staring right at her. The frown on the other woman’s face confused her though. “Kara, it’s so good to see your bright blue eyes.” Lena gushed as she took the seat Eliza had vacated while she went to get lunch.  
  
“I’ll leave you two alone for a bit. See if mom can’t use some company for lunch.” Alex squeezed Kara’s good shoulder and left the room.  
  
“I’m so happy to see you, Kara. It’s been…I’m so sorry for what my mother did. I’m so very sorry you were put in danger. I just…I…you saved me and I just, you’re her…your Supergirl and you always save me but you’re Kara and she’s never let me down and I’m just so sorry that you’re hurt and in this room and…”  
  
“I love you.” Kara stated. She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she apparently couldn’t help it. Not when she had almost lost Lena. She had been so close to losing Lena. If she hadn’t been fast enough it would have been Lena in this bed and she wouldn’t have made it. No human would have survived the damage done to her body. That thought alone was unacceptable. There wasn’t time to pretend that she didn’t think Lena was responsible for why the sun rose every morning. There wasn’t time to pretend that she didn’t see the way Lena looked at her as if she hung the stars.  
  
There just wasn’t any more time to waste.  
  
“I…what?” Lena asked, her eyes as wide as saucers. Her heart beat erratically against her chest as she stared open mouthed at Kara. That…had been the last thing she expected her to say.  
  
“I love you.” Kara repeated. “I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was Supergirl. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you. I do. I trust you so much. I just wanted to protect you. To keep you safe from…from something I can’t even remember anymore. I just didn’t want you to not to look at me the way you do because I love the way you look at me. I love the way you are with me, who you are with me. And I just love you so much I can’t think straight and…”  
  
Lena leaned up and over the bed in an instant. She needed to stop Kara before she said anything else and the only way she could think to rationally do that was to kiss her. So she leaned over the bed and placed her lips against Kara’s and kissed the woman she loved—who apparently loved her too—and enjoyed the soft taste of her lips against her own. She’d always imagined Kara’s lips tasting like sugar, but she was surprised to find they weren’t nearly as sweet as the drinks Kara made her try.  
  
“Cinnamon…” Lena whispered as she pulled back, eyes alight as she cupped Kara’s face gently. “You taste like cinnamon.”  
  
Kara giggled as she stared up at Lena and crooked her finger to bring the other woman back down to her lips. When they pulled apart Kara felt relaxed for the first time in days.  
  
“That was my other secret.”

“What other secret?” Lena asked, eye brow quirked in question.  
  
“The coffee. You wanted to know what it was. It was cinnamon.”  
  
Lena laughed, of course it was.  
  
“No more secrets, okay?”  
  
“Okay.” Kara promised.

  
  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- **Epilogue** -.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Hey Jess…”

Jess looked up from her computer, her hands still typing away at the keyboard as she met Kara’s eyes and offered the woman a smile. Kara was limping forward using the cane Jess had watched her use for the last three weeks.

It had been nearly two months since the shooting. Kara had just started to come back to the office in the last month. Jess wasn’t sure how she managed it; if it had been her she would never want to be in the same location ever again. But she supposed when you were dating Lena Luthor, there were certain sacrifices to be made.

Not that the world at large knew they were dating. Jess just happened to know because she’d caught them making out on the couch when she was leaving. She hadn’t said anything and they didn’t seem to notice her presence, so she’d snuck back out and disappeared with the knowledge that they had finally gotten over themselves and moved past their tenuous friendship.

Jess was surprised at how fast Kara was healing, she’d heard through the grapevine that one of the bullets had lodged itself near her spine, but so far her recovery had been largely successful if her walking around with nothing but a small limp and a cane had anything to say about it.

Jess never mentioned the cane. She had the first time and the way that Kara had blushed in embarrassment and vulnerability had made Jess rethink mentioning it ever again. Instead, she just treated Kara as she always had. She didn’t do anything extra for her or try and help her by opening doors or getting the elevator for her. She wouldn’t be making those mistakes again. If Kara needed to feel like she was in control and capable, then Jess was going to let her.

“Hi Kara!” Jess greeted, her eyes moving back and forth between her screen and the reporter.

“I come bearing gifts.” Kara lifted up the cup holder as proof. Kara put the cup holder down on Jess’ desk and took out one of the cups and placed it down for her before lifting up the holder once more.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to.” Jess admonished, knowing Kara would do as she just did, smile and wave it off with a little giggle.

“Least I can do. I know how hard you work. Us assistants need to stick together.” Kara winked, and Jess didn’t have the heart to tell Kara that she wasn’t an assistant anymore.

“She’s free if you’d like to go in?”

“Great! Thanks Jess!” Kara disappeared into Lena’s office without another word.

-.-.-.-.-

“Hey there good lookin’…” was how Kara announced herself once the door was closed and she saw Lena wasn’t on the phone with anyone, just absorbed in her computer screen reading some budget report or another Kara assumed.

Lena chuckled, shaking her head at Kara’s playfulness.

“Hi,” Lena smiled brightly as Kara made herself comfortable in the chair on the other side of her desk.

That was a good thing, it meant there wasn’t as much pain in her left leg as there had been the last few weeks.

Although they’d gotten the kryptonite bullets out, the one that had embedded itself in Kara’s spine had left some residual damage that was taking longer to heal. Her patrols as Supergirl were fewer and her mobility as Kara Danvers was slightly stilted with the use of her cane. Kara hated it, hated that she sometimes needed to stop walking or standing because of the pain. It made her vulnerable, and the only thing that had kept her from falling into a depressive stint over it had been Lena.

Lena had been there practically day in and day out. Always showing up or contacting her when she needed it most. It didn’t hurt that they’re relationship had slowly morphed from best friends to lovers in the last two months either. Lena wined and dined Kara, they ‘netflixed and chilled’, they spent lazy Sundays in bed, and game nights laughing and playing with friends.

There were hard times too. Lena would have to cancel because she was working late or their plans to go to a museum or arcade needed to be rescheduled because Kara wasn’t up to it. They got into little spats over small things, but it was all part of being in a relationship, and by far the good outweighed the ‘bad’.

They were making this work, and so far, by leaps and bounds, this relationship was the best either of them had ever been in. When people said it was best to be in a relationship with your best friend, they weren’t kidding.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well, it’s both pleasure and business.” Kara admitted as she shuffled her cane around while extending Lena the beverage she’d gotten for her.

Lena took the bribe for what it was and sat back comfortably in her chair. “Oh? Do explain…”

“I just need a quick quote from you regarding women in the workforce and the difficulties and breaking through the glass ceiling. With the new law being passed where employers can no longer ask about salary history in an effort to stem the wage gap between genders, I wanted to get a few quotes from high powered women on their experiences in the work force.”

“Ah, well, I can have something sent to your email before you get back to your office?” Lena requested, feeling she needed time to truly think on what her answer would be.

“That’d be perfect.” Kara relaxed. This was the first time she’d brought up work since they’d gotten together. “So, we still on for dinner tonight?”

“Of course. And this time I’ll be there on time.” Lena swore, having already booked the last two hours of her day for time to spend catching up so she could leave on time.

“Great!” Kara grinned, sipping at her own drink.

Lena took Kara’s cue and took a sip of hers. Her eyes close and she moaned happily when she realized it was her new favorite.

Kara laughed at Lena’s reaction. “That good huh?”

Lena nodded as she took another sip, “Mmmhmm…”

Kara watched as Lena enjoyed her coffee, her eyes softening as she stared at her girlfriend. As hard as the last few weeks had been for her, Lena truly did make everything better.

**The End**

 


End file.
